Marketing Video Builder: An Intro for Educators

As you might have heard, we recently launched a new product — our Marketing Video Builder. And while we’re excited about the possibilities for small businesses, we also think the Marketing Video Builder offers lots of opportunities for teachers, administrators, and other educators looking to create professional-looking presentations, like the one below.

We’ve put together a quick intro for educators, highlighting Marketing Video Builder’s features and discussing ways to add it to your school.

What’s different about the Marketing Video Builder?

The Marketing Video Builder is similar in structure to our original Slideshow Video Builder, which you may already be familiar with, but it offers additional features that can help you take your videos to the next level, such as storyboards, voice-over, increased text, and layout control, including the ability to add text over video clips, collages, and more.

What would I use it for?

There are many different ways teachers and administrators can use marketing videos in their schools. Here are just a few of them:

How can the new features help me create videos for my school or my classroom?

1. Storyboards. Our education-themed storyboards are pre-built templates that can help you plan out a marketing video without having to start from scratch. You can see our latest education templates in this blog post, or just open Marketing Video Builder and explore your options.

2. Advanced timing control. You can now set how long photos or text blocks will appear on screen, giving you the opportunity to leave important information up longer for students (or teachers engaged in professional development) to absorb. You can use the extra time to ask questions, make a point verbally, or let students copy down relevant information without stopping your video. In effect, you can adjust your video to operate a little like a Powerpoint or Prezi presentation.

Alternatively, you use these controls to craft a social media post or ad that’s under a minute by shaving the seconds off of individual text and image blocks.

3. Collages. This feature lets you group two or more images in one block, so you can show multiple, related images at once. You can use it cover contrasting subjects (for example, in a video related to an election, you could show the candidates), group similar items together, or to shorten run times on videos recapping events, as the video on the Crocker Elementary Kindness March does below.

4. Greater text control. You can change text fonts and colors to customize your video, and move your text around the screen to choose the right placement. If you’re posting on behalf of the school, you can create a video using the school’s colors. It’s also possible to add text over video clips, letting you comment on all the materials you add to your video. Finally, you can adjust the size of your text, making larger text that’s easier for parents to view your videos on mobile devices, or visually impaired students to see in class.

5. Voice-over. If you’re presenting a video in class, you can now avoid a sore throat at the end of the day by adding voiceover. Voiceover also lets you accommodate all types of learners. For administrators, voiceover can offer a way to create professional development materials that give visual and auditory explanations for new procedures.

How hard will this be for me to learn?

If you’ve mastered our original Slideshow Video Builder, you’ll be able to make Marketing Videos with just a little practice.

When you start your first Marketing Video, you’ll get a short tutorial explaining what each feature is and how it works. But if you’d like a little more help, try one of the storyboards that are already set up — just replace the photos, video clips, and text with your own material. Playing around with storyboards is a great way to familiarize yourself with what a finished product looks like and all the different types of blocks you can use. While most of these storyboards are designed for business, we’re starting to grow a collection of education-themed storyboards for you to use, too.

Can I get the Marketing Video Builder with my education plan?

The Marketing Video Builder is available to all users with Animoto Professional or Business plan, so check with your school to find out if it offers those plans. If not, and you are currently on a Personal or Education plan, you can upgrade on the Account page.

Have you already created a video with our Marketing Video Builder? Let us know what you think, or share your video with us in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter. Include #MyAnimoto when you share and we’ll reshare our faves.